Smartphone are easy to understand
Does a new smartphone in your hands really signify that you are one with a great tech lifestyle? I’m asking this question because wherever I go I find people holding their mobile phone as if it were something that could take them a notch or two beyond all the other ‘lesser mortals’!
Let us go back a bit in the past. This habit, if it can be called that, had its humble beginnings when mobile phones were just launched. Then it wasn’t just a display of which phone, it was simply the phone that was in your hands that made all the difference as the rest were having to do with phones that were corded and at home. A couple of years later the mere display of a phone held in your hands wasn’t enough… you had to be talking in a loud voice. This was because by then there were just too many people holding their phones like holding the National flag in some Olympics parade! However, not everyone could really afford the massive tele-bills, so a loud voiced discussion on a mobile phone became a status symbol.
The race then got more intense… and now it has reached a stage when people have again started to swish out their smartphone at the slightest pretext and begin to finger the large screen with a secretive smile on their face. Yes, we’re in the smartphone era now… and the finger does more than mere voice does. Moreover, you got to be a bit discrete, you know. My wife agreed with me when I pointed out to her the sheer number of people literally treating their smartphones as if they were some sort of a sex toy!
‘That’s the newest lifestyle mantra,’ I said.
‘Not really,’ she replied, ‘there are the bigger toys too like the LEDS and the SUVs. Then there is the urge to share pictures of foreign travel on Facebook.’
‘Ah! I know all that,’ I agreed, ‘but this one is the most affordable gizmo that can give you a social high in no time. Just take out an iPhone or a Galaxy S3 or even a Tab and see the electrifying effect they have on the people around you.’
We concluded that we all loved to show off and as we were about to pay our bill for our coffee at that slightly crowded Costa Coffee outlet, there was a phone call and I swished out my sparkling new S3! Now, don’t you dare to smile… I did this out of sheer necessity. But what is interesting is what happened after this. Two young females suddenly braked, turned around and one of them asked, ‘Wow! That’s the S3!’
‘Yes.’
‘I’ve been planning to buy that for a while now,’ she crooned. All I could say was, ‘Please go ahead and do it. It is worth every rupee you’ll spend.’
‘But my dad is still in the analogue phone era,’ she said and suddenly asked, ‘can you give me a few points on smartphones. I’ll need them to prove that I deserve this S3.’
My mind began punching points in favour of smartphones over the analogue ones… and I’m pretty good at this sort of exercise. I rattled off a list of witty answers to her and as I did, I could see my wife actually rolling with laughter in her mind! This is what I told those future S3 show-offs:
One – You know why phones are getting smarter… because they are learning more and more new skills at a faster rate and this is what is keeping them safe from getting redundant and jobless.
Two – If you ask me: What can a smartphone do? I’ll tell you that it can make your calls and make you call which is quite different from just calling!
Three – Smartphones aren’t any smarter than you are or you plan to be… and need smarter OS than the older phones with their sluggish operating system.
Four – Smartphones need tougher glasses that get fingered more often. So they need to be cleaned frequently.
Five – One breed of smartphones comes with exotic OS names like jelly bean and ice-cream sandwich but this doesn’t mean they are sold at bakeries!
Six – The world is getting paperless… but smartphones are making mobiles more and more button-less. Now this is surely a sexy evolution, isn’t it?
Seven – If you want a phone to listen to you and give strangely quaint answers, opt for a smartphone. The other alternative is getting a phone that doesn’t listen to you at all.
Eight – Smartphones can shoot well and show you what they’ve shot as well. They can choose the best shots for you.
Nine – Smartphones won’t make you go and meet your girl- or boy-friend but can tell you when you need to if you set an alarm.
Ten – Smartphones do all that the older phones did… but with a lot of extra pomp and style… and faster.
Eleven – Ah! these smartphones really know how to store all your info and where… but then they’re just lucky they are born when cloud computing got known.
I was quite breathless after rattling off my list without as much as pausing to even think more. The two young girls had jotted down all that I said… they were certainly smart enough to jot alternate points and when they told me their strategy, I couldn’t help but say, ‘No wonder your generation deserves smartphones!’ Truth is that smartphones are indeed the lifeline of not just a fancy tech lifestyle but are fast becoming a necessity now… what with access to the internet while on the move, getting vital. The innumerable apps that the Apples, Android, and Windows people are churning out, are also fast becoming the lifeline at critical moments… thus what began as a fanciful lifestyle is fast evolving into a productively useful lifestyle. Get a smartphone for yourself today!
2012_09_10_The Education Post_Defending smartphones is easy
Arvind Passey
Written on 02 September 2012
Published in ‘The Education Post’ dated 10 September 2012
